Rajapaksa in Singapore for private visit, not granted asylum
Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is on a private visit and has not been granted asylum, the Singapore government said on Thursday shortly before his flight was expected to land.
"It is confirmed that Mr. Rajapaksa has been allowed entry into Singapore on a private visit," Singapore's foreign ministry was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
"He has not asked for asylum and neither has he been granted any asylum. Singapore generally does not grant requests for asylum," the statement read.
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The 73-year-old leader boarded a Saudi Airlines plane on Wednesday that will take him to Singapore and then to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, a Maldives government official told AP.
Rajapaksa had left Sri Lanka on Wednesday morning with his wife and two bodyguards.
Rajapaksa fled the country on the day he was supposed to hand over his resignation.
The Lankan President had taken left Colombo for Maldives late on Tuesday evening.
Last night, he requested the Maldives government to arrange a private jet to fly him to Singapore, fearing public backlash, sources had said.
Before leaving Colombo, he had assured leaders that would send in his resignation. Thirty-six hours on, that is yet to happen.
Back in Lanka, protesters demanded that he keep his promise to step down over the island nation's worst-ever economic crisis.
As president, Rajapaksa enjoys immunity from arrest.
